'Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked so easily – weak people, in other words – they stand no chance against his powers!' Severus Snape to Harry Potter, Pg 473 OOTP, Occlumency
Chapter Forty-Two – The End
1998
When Harry was brought out by Voldemort, Elizabeth's scream was heard above the rest.
Afterwards, upon his revival, after the dust had cleared and Voldemort was dead, she almost broke him in half holding him so close.
It was only then that she asked, "Have you seen Severus?"
Harry, Ron and Hermione suddenly grew very solemn.
"Elizabeth," Hermione began, putting her hand on her shoulder, "he..."
Her face turning white, Elizabeth shook her head. "He's... he can't..."
"I'm sorry, Liz," Harry muttered, pulling her into a tight embrace. "He told us everything; showed us everything. You were right about him, but... he's gone."
"No!" she screamed, pulling away. "Where is he?" None of them responded, and so she looked into Harry's mind. If possible, she grew even paler. "No..."
With that, she turned and ran, freezing the Whomping Willow with a swish of her wand, and disappearing beneath it.
"We should follow her," Hermione said quietly, moving to go after her.
"No," Harry replied, holding her back. "Let me."
Harry prodded the knot with a stick and climbed carefully down the stairs and through the tunnel towards the Shrieking Shack. He'd hardly made it a third of the way through when he heard her scream.
Running to the end, worried she'd been found by some lingering Death Eaters, he found her crouched on the ground, her arms wrapped around Snape in an embrace to rival that which she'd given him just minutes before.
"Elizabeth..." There was nothing he could say, nothing he could do. He kneeled behind her at hugged her gently as she rocked, tears streaming down her face. He hoped beyond hope that he could at least in this way be of some comfort, despite the knowledge that when she'd screamed, it'd been not only shock, but the sound of her heart breaking.
This was how Hermione, Ron and Minerva McGonagall found them. Elizabeth covered in Severus' blood, her tears soaking his robes, and Harry trying in vain to comfort her.
"Oh, my," McGonagall gasped quietly, pausing in the doorway.
Ron and Hermione, too, paused and held each other, feeling both guilty and grateful that they had not lost each other.
After a few moments, McGonagall stepped forward and with surprising strength helped pull Elizabeth off of Snape's body, and let the girl cling to her. Making gentle cooing noises, she motioned for Harry to bring Severus' body back as she, Ron and Hermione half helped, half carried Elizabeth back in the direction of the Castle.
...
After the burials, and the celebrations, and everything in between, Hogwarts had finally cleared. Many of the broken towers and windows and walls were well on the way to being fixed, and there was not a question as to whether it would be ready for a new batch of students in the coming year. Professor McGonagall, now Headmistress McGonagall, had made the necessary changes to staff, and finally Elizabeth was to get the job of her dreams – Professor of Transfiguration at Hogwarts. Indeed, Neville Longbottom had even gotten an offer to help Professor Sprout as assistant Professor of Herbology.
Time was moving forward, as it does, and yet it was without surprise that Harry, visiting the school one last time before he was to begin his job at the Ministry of Magic, found Elizabeth sitting quietly at the edge of the lake where she had found him so many other times before.
"Elizabeth."
"Hello, Harry," she replied quietly, not turning.
He sat down next to her, and wrapped his arm around her, her head coming to rest on his shoulder.
They sat in silence a while, the sounds of the water lapping up against the shore. There had been so much said between them, so many words, that at this moment of mourning it was silence that comforted them.
The sun began to dip slowly behind the mountains, and the late summer birds began their final songs in the trees. Harry felt Elizabeth breathe in deeply.
"He's really gone," she sighed, taking his hand.
"He may be gone from here, but he'll always be with you," Harry replied quietly, thinking of his time in the forest.
"I wish..."
"Yeah?"
"I wish I could've held him; talked to him one more time."
"I know."
They lapsed back into silence, and sat at the water's edge until the sun was gone, and the stars and the moon came out. When they finally felt the chill of early autumn, they stood, and slowly made their way back to the castle. Before they stepped inside, they both looked out over the grounds that they'd known for so very long, and together saw the changes that had come over both of them the past seven years. They knew that nothing would ever be the same, but that, so long as they had love, all would be well in the end.